How is a congressional bill passed? In this article, the legislative process is broken down to track the progress of H.R. 4003, the Hudson River Valley (HRV) Special Resource Study Act.

Step 1: Introduction
Any member of Congress can introduce a legislative bill, and it may be introduced in either the House of Representatives or the Senate. Congressman Maurice Hinchey, representing New York’s 22nd Congressional District introduced the HRV Special Resource Study Act on November 3, 2009. To introduce a bill in the House, a Congressman simply places the bill in a “hopper” with his or her signature as the sponsor at the side of the Clerk’s desk. The Clerk assigns the bill a number—for example, the HRV Special Resource Study Act’s number is H.R. 4003—and the Speaker of the House refers the bill to the House Committee or Subcommittee with jurisdiction over the area affected by the bill.Step 2: Referral to a Committee

Once a bill is introduced and referred to an appropriate committee, the committee holds public hearings and markup sessions for the bill. The public hearing is usually the first step in the committee consideration process and it is also the time when citizens are given the opportunity to testify or be heard. Committees make public the date, place, and subject of every hearing that they hold.

Following the hearings, the bill advances to a “markup” session where committee members study the legislation, offer amendments, and vote to accept or reject these changes. At the conclusions of the deliberation, committee members vote to determine the bill’s next steps. It can either be reported, with or without amendments, or tabled, where no further action will occur. If reported, a “Committee Report” is written describing the purpose and scope of the bill and the reasons for recommended approval. Then the bill moves to the full House floor for consideration.

There are 20 committees in the House of Representatives, and 16 committees in the Senate. Each of these committees may in turn have several subcommittees. In the case of the HRV Special Resource Study Act, the bill was referred to the House Committee on Natural Resources and its subcommittee, the Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests, and Public Lands. On January 21, 2010, this subcommittee held a public hearing on the bill and now the bill is scheduled for a markup by the House Committee on Natural Resources on Wednesday, February 10, 2010.

A bill originating in the House also needs a sponsor to carry it in the Senate. According to Bob Elliott, a board member of the Hudson Valley Greenway Council and former Mayor of Croton-on-Hudson, New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand has agreed to carry H.R. 4003. If the Senate changes the language of the legislation, it must return to the House for additional changes or concurrence. Often a conference committee, composed of members of both the House and the Senate, is appointed to resolve the differences between the two legislative bodies.

Step 3: House Vote
The full House votes on the bill.

Step 4: Senate Vote
The full Senate votes on the bill.

Step 5: Signed by the President
If the House and the Senate vote in support of the bill, then the HRV Special Resource Study Act will be sent to the President for signature. If signed, the bill becomes law and the Secretary of the Interior is authorized to study the suitability of establishing the HRV as a unit of the National Park System.

New York Congressman Maurice Hinchey’s Hudson River Valley Special Resource Study Act went before the U.S. House of Representatives Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests, and Public Lands, a subcommittee of the House Committee on Natural Resources, Thursday, January 21, 2010. The Subcommittee hearing was an initial step for this legislation, which would authorize the National Park Service (NPS) to conduct a study on whether the Hudson River Valley is suitable as a unit of the National Park system. The Subcommittee heard supportive testimonies from Congressman Hinchey and Bob Elliott, a board member of the Hudson Valley Greenway Council and former Mayor of Croton-on-Hudson, as well as dissenting testimony from Carol LaGrasse, president of Property Rights Foundation of America, Inc.

Both Hinchey and Elliott spoke of the Hudson River Valley’s world-renowned scenic beauty, recreational assets, unique and sensitive ecosystem, and its historical significance, referencing its influential role in the American Revolution, home to important movements in American art, and its influence in moving the country from an agrarian to an industrial economy. They also spoke to the timeliness of this legislation, referencing the 400th Quadricentennial anniversary of Henry Hudson’s 1609 voyage of the river that now bears his name. Elliott testified, “given this unique moment and the world-class resources of the region, now is an ideal time to authorize the NPS to study the Hudson River Valley for inclusion in the national park system.”

During questioning, Hinchey and Elliott reinforced that a park service designation would not infringe open New York State’s municipal authority, and that it would support the Hudson Valley Greenway, a state sponsored program created in 1991 to facilitate the development of a regional strategy for preserving scenic, natural, historic, cultural and recreational resources while encouraging compatible economic development and maintaining the tradition of home rule for land use decision-making.

Speaking in opposition, LaGrasse questioned the historical significance of the Hudson River Valley and expressed concern about the negative effects of national park designation. Such status would affect 12 counties abutting the Hudson River, and she expressed concern that privately owned land would become difficult to access and that state and local lands’ tax status could change, resulting in potential loss of tax revenue.

“Ultimately, the shift in land ownership to the National Park Service would have an even broader economic and cultural impact then the loss of tax base. As land is foreclosed from development, the future would be cut off and the growth and flourishing of the vast 12-county region would be stunted,” LaGrasse argued.

Two weeks after the subcommittee hearing, on February 3rd, the Hudson River Valley Special Resource Study Act took another legislative step. The House Committee on Natural Resources announced that it will hold a markup on this bill next Wednesday, February 10th.

First published: Sunday, November 8, 2009 in Times Union

National Park In Our Own Backyard
Ken Burns’ documentary, “The National Parks: America’s Best Idea”, came as the National Park System approaches its centennial in 2016 and is transforming its role from saving natural wonders like Yellowstone, the Grand Canyon and Yosemite to becoming a presence throughout the nation.

In fact, our own backyard from Rodgers Island off Fort Edward to the southern-most boundary of Westchester County will be studied for possible inclusion as a park system unit under legislation proposed by mid-Hudson Valley U.S. Rep. Maurice Hinchey.This may sound absurd if you think of national parks as western natural wonders. It isn’t absurd if you know the direction of the National Park System over the last couple of decades and what a national study commission anticipates for our parks’ next 100 years (http://www. visionfortheparks.org).

The commission visited the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area established in 1978 in California. It found a “mosaic of living communities and protected lands” with the park service owning only 14 percent of the park’s 150,000 acres. The remaining land is managed “through creative partnerships among national and state parks, nonprofits and volunteers.” National parks are not only federally owned lands, but also an educational and inspiring “idea” that can be applied “to build human capital.”

The commission also visited the Lowell National Historical Park in Massachusetts, where local leaders enlisted the park service in an effort to revitalize an historic and gritty city. Today, park rangers there reveal a chapter of American history for city residents and visitors alike.

The commission found, “We can be better educated, live in more viable communities, slow climate change and its impacts, expand our idea of history to include all our stories, and preserve our continent’s biodiversity by making logical additions to the park system, while inviting all Americans to participate.”

The world-class natural and cultural Hudson River Valley should be one of these additions. This tidal river is rich with rare and threatened flora and fauna. Its landscape inspired the renowned Hudson River School of Art and it offers great recreational opportunities. Troy and its neighboring communities making up Riverspark are known as a birthplace of the American industrial revolution. A 1996 study preceding the designation of the Hudson River National Heritage Area called the valley, “the landscape that defined America.”

Becoming a park system unit will shine a deserved light on the valley. With many public and private partners, the park service can help to connect communities, natural settings, historic sites and areas and the river, yielding a dynamic educational and recreational setting to serve generations.

In the 1930s, then-state Sen. Erastus Corning 2nd saw the bigger picture and tried to establish a Hudson Valley regional planning entity. Others, like former Gov. Nelson Rockefeller, also tried and failed to advance a regional vision.

Beginning as an assemblyman in the 1980s, Hinchey grasped an expansive valley vision and succeeded in realizing it, creating, first, the Hudson River Estuary Program, then the Hudson River Valley Greenway and, when he got to Congress, the Hudson River Valley National Heritage Area.

On the 400th anniversary of Europeans arriving in the Hudson Valley, Hinchey is engaging the National Park Service to do for us what it does best: “acting as convener, catalyst, and storyteller to help create places where the past and future frame the present.”

Paul M. Bray is founder of the Albany Roundtable civic lunch forum. His e-mail is pmbray@aol.com.